Meguiar's MotorEx elite unveils, part two

Here’s part two of our coverage from the Meguiar’s MotorEx elite unveils, which saw the covers pulled off 17 cars infront of a bumper crowd.

You can read part one of our unveil coverage here, and here’s the remaining champions who were seen publicly for the very first time.

CHARLIE DIXON – HX HOLDEN KINGSWOOD UTE

Ex-AFL star Charlie Dixon has been playing with cars flat out since retiring from footy, and this HX Holden ute, which was once his grandfather’s farm ute, is his greatest creation yet. With the bonnet down it looks like a stocker, but in actual fact it’s loaded with a billet-blocked 3.2-litre RB30 with a giant snail strapped to the side.

“It’s been nine years in the making,” said Charlie. “It was in pretty rough condition and I probably could have found a different car, but because it was my grandfather’s I wanted to go through the process and rebuild it. I’ll show it once then drive the wheels off it!”

SHAUN WHALE – HOLDEN HT MONARO GTS

Shaun Whale is known to many as a media personality in the four-wheel drive space, but he’s long been mad keen on muscle cars, too. His HT GTS Monaro has a storied history as a giveaway car for Performance Street Car magazine, and was in remarkably original condition when Shaun bought it as a driver.

Since then he’s had it restored by the team at Exclusive Customs. “I love it when a car has a really cool story and this one has an exceptional story,” said Shaun. “The Exclusive guys have even more passion for the car than I do, and when I met them I knew they were the right guys for the job.”

AIDAN KARAIVANOFF – VALIANT CHARGER E49 TRIBUTE

Mopar’s Hellcat crate motors are a formidable bit of gear, and what better car to wrap around one than an Aussie Valiant Charger, even it it does take 19 long years to build? “I wanted it to come across as a standard car inside and out, but with a real performance driveline and stance,” said Aidan Karaivanoff of his creation.

A sequentially shifted six-speed manual and meaty Centreline brake-burners are inspired choices. “I wanted it to be super usable and do a combination of road and track stuff.”

BEN FINK – 1968 CHEVROLET CAMARO

“I’ve had the car for eight years, said Ben Fink. “I bought it from the States as a runner then pulled it down to build it into something to be proud of; I’ve done quite a lot of it myself.” Decked out as a pro tourer, the car runs a fire-breathing 582ci big-block to kick it old-school under the hood. “Everyone runs an LS these days, so going with the big-block is actually kind of different. It’s still very in keeping with the basic foundation of the car being a muscle car.”

JOHNNY TOSEVSKI – HOLDEN VL CALAIS

Most folks would be perfectly happy with a clinically clean LSX454-powered VL Calais, and Johnny Tosevski was too, up until 2019. “I got bored and wanted to change it up a bit,” he said. “Sam at Westend built the motor and the boys at Spot On fabbed everything and pre-fitted the car. Then we went back to bare metal and resprayed it; even the undercarriage is smoothed and painted red.”

Now it’s packing a twin G42-charged 388ci Dart-blocked LS that’s already proven handy for 1600hp on the dyno on low boost. “It’ll make well over 2000hp, said Johnny. “I wanted to be able to drive it on the road and race it; I wanted to have a really fast street car. It should go in the sixes.”

CRAIG GOODSHOW – 1969 CHEVROLET CAMARO

Craig embarked on his ’69 Camaro build as a mild resto-mod, before he saw the light two years in. “It’s been a 13-year build,” he said. “Our car club won the club award at MotorEx for a couple of years, and I saw cars being unveiled and it became something I wanted on my bucket list.”

The resto-mod concept went well and truly out the window, with a Whipple-blown 502ci big-block, 4L80E trans, Speedtech underpinnings and three-piece Forgeline wheels all getting the nod. It also packs all the mod-cons, with heated power seats, aircon and power steering, along with a European inspired luxury interior.

NATHAN DAVIS – HOLDEN HT MONARO

Darwin-based Nathan Davis and his missus drove for six days with a newborn baby to get to MotorEx, so he was stoked to yank the sheets off his gorgeous HT GTS Monaro following a seven-year build.

Packing a Dandy Engines-built 427 topped with a four-litre Whipple blower, it retains factory GTS styling, modernised with pearl white paint and 20in Weld RTS wheels. “It should be a good little street car. The goal was to make 1000hp, and the boys reckon we’ll shit it in!

ROSS GANGEMI – 1967 ALFA ROMEO GIULIA GT VELOCE STEPNOSE

Building a car to the standard required to have it unveiled at MotorEx is one hell of an achievement, and Ross Gangemi has done it two years on the trot. After debuting his Mustang at the event last year, this year we got to see his rad little Alfa Romeo for the first time.

Packing an all-alloy two-litre DOHC four-pot and dripping in Alfaholics go-fast bits, the car is a beautifully finished little pro touring rocket. “Lou at Dandy Engines had a lot of fun building the motor,” said Ross. We’re hoping to get 210-230hp and around 7500rpm out of it; it should be a fun little car.”

ROB CUTHBERT – 1965 CHEVROLET C10

Another world-class machine out of the Southern Rod & Custom magic factory was Rob Cuthbert’s ’65 Chevy C10. Crammed between some gorgeous sheet metal work in the engine bay is a crate motor LSA, backed by a GM 6L90 auto.